Slith was welcomed inside the humble yet comfortable home, by the older man who seemed to be the Senator of Porta.

"Right this way. I would like to introduce you to a couple of people who might be able to provide you with some insight on the mission."

As the Senator seemed to push Slith along, Slith raised an eyebrow underneath his mask.

"Just a minute, Mr. Senator. There are 2 things I see wrong here. The first- payment. Can you actually provide me with the amount which my labors are worth? Namely... 30 gold coins."

The Senator's smile seemed to disappear at hearing this ridiculously high cost, equivalent to approximately 600,000 dollars.

"Even if Porta is a small town, I will be able to scrounge up your cost. The fact of the matter is that Porta will not exist if that monster is allowed to live, and I believe that you are the only man in the world who can defeat it."

At this, Slith smiled underneath his mask.

He would not only get his pay, but the monster in that cave was considered to be extremely strong.

So strong, in fact, that nobody else could defeat it.

Nobody but Slith.

What better way was there to prove to himself that he was the best, than by performing an achievement which could not be done by any other?

"Excellent. Second, is there truly a need for me to hear any more? Even without information, do you really believe that I would ever lose to such a monster? I believe you are underestimating me, Senator."

At this statement, the Senator looked at Slith with a nod.

"While it is true that I have no doubt that you will win, with this monster, I fear that we cannot take any chances at all. It's strength is still unknown, and if giving you as much information as possible can give you even the slightest upper hand, then I think it is worth it. Please forgive me if I have offended you, but I fear that this monster might be something which even you might struggle against."

Slith frowned at hearing this, but nodded.

"If you're going to make me go through all this, then this monster had better be at least strong enough to make me sweat. If it doesn't, then I might just have to double my price."

"That's..."

The Senator looked distressed at this, but eventually came to terms and agreed.

"Acceptable. I cannot allow this town to be destroyed, no matter what the cost."

Slith smirked, delighted that he had been able to so easily earn double the pay just to sit down and listen to the victims of this monster.

He was led to the room with the fireplace, where a middle aged woman with puffy black hair and a younger man with messy hair sat, twiddling their thumbs. The woman seemed to have bandages covering her hand, which was no longer a hand, but rather a fingerless nub.

Plopping himself down on a couch and crossing his legs over one another nonchalantly, Slith pointed to the woman.

"So? What is it you wanna say? Tell me about this monster."

Mrs. Fera looked at Slith before nodding, and she then went on to describe everything she knew about Coran. She showed him the picture, and described his abilities from what was known, and she also noted that he had a slave who was assisting him.

Slith seemed disinterested at first, but took notes in his head, considering how he would kill the monster.

'So many options..... I suppose I'll just go right for the neck.'

"And you? What do you have to say?", Slith asked, turning to the man who was sitting there wearing a doctors coat.

Kraven went on to describe his own experience to Slith- or at least, the muddled version of it which he had told the Senator and Mrs. Fera. He also informed him about the wasp queen which was assisting the spider monster, and Slith nodded in response.

"Alright. I got it. I'll be back in.... should I set a time limit? Let's say 2 minutes. I'll return with that monster's head in 2 minutes. If not, you don't have to pay me double. How's that, Senator?"

The Senator looked relieved at this proclamation, both at the confidence shown by Slith, and at the fact that he might be able to save his own money if Slith struggled even a little.

"I'll accept that offer.", he replied with a smile.

As Slith was walking out of the house, however, Mrs. Fera approached him quietly.

"Is there something else, woman?", Slith asked while staring daggers at her.

"Ah, well.... I don't mean to offend you in any way..... but just in case something happens, take this....", Mrs. Fera said while sliding an object into the hand of Slith. "That monster took my hand.... my poor children..... and now it threatens the entire town. No matter what, you must kill it..... so if you find yourself in a pinch, please just consider this a backup plan."

Slith clicked his tongue in disappointment.

"Do you know who I am? Do you think I would ever need to rely on a backup plan? Get out of my face."

However the woman didn't budge.

"I beg you. Just take it. If you don't need to use it, then that's wonderful! But there is nothing wrong with just taking it with you, right?"

Slith let out a sigh.

"I will absolutely not need to use this, but if it will get you off my tail then whatever."

Slith slid the item into his pocket and called out to the Senator in the other room.

"2 minutes. The time starts now!"

And with that, Slith disappeared out the door, running.

----

Coran and Alicia sat quietly next to each other, surrounded by children near the campfire.

The trampoline had been set up once more, and some of the children were playing on it. Coran looked over to Rebecca and Nathan, who were fast asleep nearby.

'Wonderful.... these children are simply ideal. They became servants of my masters with almost no questions, and will help me- no.... they will help them to build an ideal world.'

Coran then looked to Alicia, who was feeding a child.

'And Alicia too was accepted by her excellency.... somehow, I feel relieved. Of course, I would not hesitate to give up every last person here if they were to give the order, but..... I feel that this way is better.'

As Coran sat near the campfire, he awaited yet another invader.

This one would be considered strong by all of humanity.

Whether or not he would actually be strong, Coran did not know- but he knew one thing for certain.

He could not underestimate them.

Coran had a number of plans in case the opponent was stronger than he expected.

Looking around, he noted the pins which he had placed on the shirts of each person here.

Each pin had a gemstone inside which seemed to glow with energy.

It was a contraption created by his excellency, Gary, with the assistance of her excellency, Ally.

It was merely one of the many plans that his excellency, Theo, had laid out before Coran to ensure that there were no casualties.

'Though.... there was one thing which his excellency said before which makes me truly wonder.... he said that there was one final backup plan in case everything failed that would ensure that no matter what happened, I could not fail..... I wonder just what that backup plan could be?'

Coran's masters were already hundreds of steps ahead of anything their opponents could come up with.

With dozens of backup plans for every possible scenario, Coran could fight with certainty that he would not have to worry, even if someone stronger than himself did appear.

'But... I cannot allow myself to get arrogant. No matter what, I have to assume the worst case scenario.'

Coran looked around at the happy faces of the children.

'I cannot allow harm to come to these useful assets. If that were to happen, then I would be no worse than that woman who didn't mind damaging her products so long as they were sold for a good price in the end.'

Coran then felt it.

A presence which was not anywhere even close to the level of his masters, yet was far greater than any opponent he had faced before.

'Perhaps if I had been faced with this presence before meeting my masters, I would have mistaken it for someone of ultimate power..... how weak I truly was.'

Coran stepped forward.

"Alicia. It's my time to fight."

Alicia turned to Coran with a worried face.

She had not been informed of the plans of Coran's masters in detail, only that Coran was to lure in the strongest fighter of this country to defeat him.

Her heart ached as she saw Coran stand up, walking towards the entrance from the mineshaft to the cave.

She didn't want him to go.

Even if she knew he was strong, she didn't want him to face any danger.

She wanted to scream out and tell him 'Wait!! Don't fight!! Just come back here and we can run away together!!'

But she knew that she could not do that.

For it was a plan created by his masters, which Coran himself had advocated and suggested.

He was now locked in.

Even if the chances of his loss were low- they were not zero.

And this stung Alicia's heart like a wasp.

"Alicia.", Coran said while walking forward, not turning his head to speak with her.

"Y-yes, Coran?"

"Stay by the side of the children. Do not worry. My masters have thought everything through. Even if I were to die here, I am sure they have a plan for that."

----

Right now, Trevor was currently processing a huge amount of information, desperately simulating every possible scenario so that he could plan out his next moves.

A number of plots were already in action, but there were a few things in particular which he was looking over.

Oraguth's position.

Was Troy reliable, or would he betray the antiheroes after gaining power and deducing that they were nothing more than a suspicious group of monsters?

The arrival of the Indeterminant.

This was actually extremely beneficial to Trevor, as he now knew the location and movements of the enemy.

The one enemy which he could not afford to underestimate.

The one enemy which likely had the power in this world to defeat him.

Trevor could not allow this enemy to gain the information advantage as well.

'I cannot assume that I would be able to defeat him in combat. I must gain information on his true strength before encountering him. Going in without any information would be nothing less than suicide.'

And finally, there was Slith- the 'worlds strongest man'.

This man was someone who Trevor had noticed before.

'It was back in the mercenary guild in Erthos, right after we met Bella..... that man was not in the parlor. I believe he was lodged up in a room somewhere, but I felt his presence at the time. He was a human powerful enough to make me shiver. At that time..... if Ashley were to exert the full pressure of her magical energy on him, he would have been able to lift his finger an entire millimeter.'

Putting his hand to his face with a delusional grin, Trevor covered up his own crazed expression as he thought of what it would be like to encounter this man- were Trevor a normal person.

'He's essentially broken the limitations of humanity. If we were mere humans, we would not even hold a candle to the strength of this man.'

But, Trevor was no longer a mere human.

He was, after all, a being destined to become a demon lord.

So he did not fear this man even a slight bit, for he knew and understood the power which he held.

Who he did fear, was the Indeterminant.

Just how great were his powers, and what were his limitations?

More importantly, how would he be able to find out about them?

'I would like to keep Oraguth and those under him by the side of the Indeterminant to view his actions, but.... we shall see what happens.'

Oraguth had sent one of the spiders to tail Brutus as well, so Trevor was well aware that Slith was on his way to fight Coran.

This too was all part of Trevor's plan.

'If we eliminate the 'world's strongest man', then there will be nobody left to attack this village- aside from the heroes and the Indeterminant himself. But by every simulation which I run.....'

Trevor seemed to be watching a number of screens.

Many of which, there were hundreds or even thousands of soldiers who were marching to the village which Coran had established.

'In not a single one of them does the Indeterminant or the hero get sent to this village, even assuming that the hero does betray us. That Emperor certainly is a fool. He doesn't exactly understand priorities. It seems that whatever has happened to his father in the Kingdom has truly gone to his head.'

Trevor smiled lightly, before his face became serious once more.

'But then there is the possibility of Coran's death.... well, I suppose it's a risk I'm going to be taking. It's a very low chance. Almost impossible. But if it does happen.... then we will simply need to revive him and those under him. I suppose we do need to test out the limitations of Ashley's revival abilities. We have already tested it on both humans and humanoid monsters, so that seems to be fine. The question is, does it have any personality changing effects? If Coran were to die, we would know immediately. I would prefer him not to die of course, but there is always that option.'

Trevor sighed, laughing to himself as he remembered his own death.

It was quick, but it was painful. The poison which coursed through his veins burned him, and he felt as if he was going to throw up from the pain in that instant, which seemed to last an eternity.

'Indeed... dying once is already enough. I don't particularly want anyone under me to have to experience that as well. That being said.... the entire purpose of sending Coran and Oraguth into the human realm was merely to gain an advantage on intel. So long as at least one of them succeeds, we can keep them permanently stationed in the Empire, where they will closely watch every move of both the Emperor and the border between the human and monster realm. If we are aware of their movements, then we can move onto phase 3 of our world domination plan.....'

Trevor grinned, knowing that while there had been a massive amount of new information recently, that this information only confirmed many of his suspicions, and that he was right to plan for these things.

'Phase 1- Establish the Dictatorship as a single village. Check.

Phase 2- Expand our influence, planting spies and our subordinates at critical points so that we can be aware of movements all around us. Almost completed.

Phase 3- While remaining aware of the movements of the humans and the Indeterminant, we take over the monster realm bit by bit. If something major happens in the human realm with the Indeterminant or others who threaten us, we can put this on hold to take care of it.

Phase 4- Once the monsters have completely been united under us, we establish ourselves as the new official demon lords..... and then we take over the rest of the world.'

Trevor began to chuckle to himself.

"Heh heh heh.... hahaha!! Hue hue hue...."

"Are you alright, Tr-er, Theo? You're.... kinda laughing a lot.", Samantha asked, clearly concerned.

Pushing up his glasses with an awkward smile, Trevor replied smoothly.

"Ah, nothing is wrong. I was just considering how well everything has been going despite all the curveballs I've been thrown recently."

"Alright....", Samantha said as she got back to work drawing something up.

Looking around, Trevor smiled. His comrades were currently ordering around a number of lizardmen and goblins who were constructing a new set of walls within the Dictatorship, as previously planned.

'What an endeavor ruling a land has been. I would like to take a break, but I can't. Not while so many things are happening.'

----

In seconds, Slith had made it from the home of the Senator to the abandoned mineshaft.

He of course had no time to lose, as 30 gold coins were staked now on his ability to return with the monster's head in a mere 120 seconds.

'Well, not a problem. I just have to get in and out, real quick. After all, there's no way it will take me longer than 30 seconds to kill the thing, no matter how strong it is.'

Slith ran through the mineshaft, taking note of a number of traps which had been set up.

'Oh? It seems like this monster isn't as dumb as I thought. But I can see easily here in the dark, even without a torch. After all, could I call myself the worlds greatest assassin if I didn't have night vision?'

Avoiding every last trap, Slith made his way through the mineshaft in a matter of moments.

Currently, 10 seconds had passed since he left the home of the Senator.

It was then that he exited the mineshaft, into a large cave system.

Inside the cave was a campfire, and sitting near it were many children who seemed to be clinging to a female humanoid which had features that resembled a wasp. Wings draped down her back and her yellow skin was painted with black lines here and there.

She wore clothing that resembled a skirt and a regular blouse, though made from chitin.

There was also a web which was attached to a number of stalagmites, and many children seemed to be playfully bouncing on this web.

And finally, standing right in front of Slith, who whipped out his two daggers with a smile, was the spiderlike monster which he had seen in the picture.

'There's my target. Time for him to die.'

However, before Slith could make a move, the spider seemed to want to speak.

A raspy voice came out of the spider, who held many weapons ready. A spear in one hand, a blowdart in the other, and four arms with spiked armaments.

"So? Are you the one who I have an appointment with? Are you the mercenary who has been hired to kill me? You must be if you made it past my traps without so much as a scratch. You're the real deal, aren't you? If I'm not careful, I might actually die here."

Slith almost found himself laughing at hearing the monster speak.

Never before had he encountered a monster, but this one almost acted like a person.

"That is me, monster. I suppose before you die, I should inform you of who I am, just as I do for all my other opponents. It would be rude to let you die without knowing who killed you, after all.", Slith said with a tsunami of overconfidence washing over him.

"I've heard this before. And I'll say it again, I don't really care about 'warriors pride' or 'knowing who killed you', but I'll let you know as well since you seem to value that sort of thing. I am Coran, the slave of their excellencies and her eminence. And you?"

"Oh? You're quite polite for a monster. Interesting. I am Slith, the most skilled assassin in the world. The most talented, most intelligent, strongest, fastest, and greatest person you will ever meet in your pathetic life. You should be thankful that your death will come by someone as wonderful as myself. As for a master... a man as great as myself serves none. Even the men who I work under are nothing more than pawns under me which I could crush at any time, which I keep around because they maintain their use."

At this, a nerve seemed to be struck in the head of the monster, and his upper two eyes thinned, while his lower left eye started twitching with disgust.

"The greatest person I will ever meet? As if. I have met at the very least, five people who are far, far greater than you. Or would you like to contest their greatness? Go ahead. If you can beat me, then I, who am nothing more than a mere shard of their greatness, will admit that you are greater than at least the biproducts which my masters produce effortlessly."